The present disclosure is related to systems and methods for delivering medical gases in a hospital room. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a medical gas delivery system for delivering various medical gases to a hospital room.
Clinical care settings, such as a hospital room, for example, serve a two-fold purpose of delivering healthcare services. In the first instance, the hospital room serves as an area for delivery of medical care. In the second instance, the hospital room serves as a residence for a recuperating patient.
With regard to the delivery of healthcare services, the hospital room must include state of the art technology accessible to the healthcare provider during the delivery of care. As the acuity of a patient's illness or injury increases, the complexity of additional equipment required to assist with the delivery of care increases. For example, medical gases such as compressed air, oxygen, and vacuum may be delivered to the patient room. Pneumatic equipment may use compressed air as a source of power, oxygen may be provided to aid patients in breathing, and vacuum may be applied to help remove fluids from patients.
The delivery of medical gases, electrical power, and data communication lines tends to be routed through the headwall area of the patient room. The headwall area also tends to support lighting for the patient room and healthcare equipment thereon. As a result, the headwall area may be crowded with wiring, electrical components and equipment useful in caring for a patient. In order to provide all the features for treatment of the patient and maintenance of the features, hospitals may use headwall structures that have additional capacity for future uses. Hospitals also may provide redundant features so that flexibility in treating the patient may be achieved.
Medical gases are delivered to each patient room by a centralized gas distribution system. The centralized gas distribution system supplies compressed air, oxygen gas, and vacuum by way of three separate conduits to a centralized gas manifold included in the headwall as described in U.S. Patent Application 2010/0095604. The centralized gas manifold includes three sets of outlet ports, each set of outlet ports provides only one type of medical gas. The centralized gas manifold tends to include additional ports beyond the number of gas outlets included in the head wall so that future uses of the headwall and patient room may be supported by the centralized gas manifold. As a result, additional capacity and complexity is included in the centralized gas manifold that may not be used by the caregiver.